Risk based multi criteria decision making for secure image transfer between unmanned air vehicle and ground control station

Highlights: • A comparison method named as "risk based multi criteria decision making" is developed. • Different unmanned air vehicle data link systems are compared with proposed method. • The risks are determined with risk analysis and used as inputs of decision making. • The five-step secure image transfer is guaranteed based on Raspberry Pi 3. nowadays, the reliabilities of unmanned air vehicles (UAVs) are often questionable because of their importance and widespread usage. at this point, one of the major problem areas is data link system of uavs. in this paper, an alternative image transmission method based on the secure hypertext transfer protocol (HTTPS) protocol has been developed using Raspberry Pi 3 and Picamera module to ensure a secure data link. to evaluate this method, four alternative methods in the literature are identified and a novel comparison manner, which is numerical, flexible, objective, measurable and independent from person, is created by using multi-criteria decision-making methodology based on risk analysis, called risk based multi criteria decision making for UAV data link systems. the multi criteria decision making method is chosen as an appropriate method for comparison and decision-making. however, as a unique approach, risk analysis methodology is used to determine the criteria and weights of criterias as inputs of decision making method.